The Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, Thursday, claimed that it received information to the effect that President Muhammadu Buhari would not participate in Saturday’s president debate.

The coalition of opposition political parties in the country insisted that it obtained credible intelligence on moves by what it called “the Presidency cabal and chieftains of the APC to stop Buhari from attending the Saturday Presidential Debate.”

The reason to stop the president from participating in the debate, it said in a statement by its 1st National Spokesperson,Ikenga Ugochinyere, was to “avoid President Buhari’s unfitness for Presidential Office being exposed.”

“The CUPP has raised yet another concern over the physical and mental fitness of President Muhammadu Buhari who is seeking second term in office on the platform of the ruling APC party.

“Events in the last few days have turned out to be very clear signals that all may not be well with our President in terms of his fitness to continue in office,” the statement said.

The statement read further:”Nigerians will recall that following the allegations by the wife of the President on the hijack of the Presidency by two or three people and her call for Nigerians to rise against them, the fact that the President is being shielded from the Nigerian media and that he speaks only from prepared scripts, the CUPP had raised alarm over the mental health status of the President and called for an independent team of experts to examine all the Presidential candidates, that call for medical examination is hereby reiterated and there are no clearer signals than Nigerians have seen in the last few days.

“The President’s media team had attempted to present as a live interview a pre-recorded interview with AriseTV crew only for the truth to eventually emerge that not only was the interview pre-recorded, the television station was not even allowed to bring their cameras for the interview. It was wholly recorded and edited by Villa officials.

“Furthermore, the President’s lackluster performance at a town Hall Meeting tagged ‘The Candidate’ can best be described as a national calamity, an embarrassment and one which made Nigerians the butt of jokes and jabs globally.

“The President clearly showed every sign of lack of comprehension of even the simplest questions while the Vice President was frantically making effort to interject and come to his aid. How can a man who cannot comprehend a problem be the one being put forward to solve those problems? God forbid that Nigerians are boxed into a situation where they will lament, had I known.

“The cabal is doing everything to foist President Buhari on Nigerians yet again for their own selfish interests and not for any other purpose.

“In less than 24hours after the President showed signs of physical frailties in Lokoja, Kogi State where he almost collapsed on the podium, he yet again in another faux pas while presenting a flag to Chief Great Ogboru in Delta State declared that he was presenting the flag to the Presidential candidate of the Party. Though he was promptly corrected, he further referred to him as a Senatorial candidate and then gubernatorial candidate, whatever that means.

“We have got it on good authority that the APC have resolved that President Muhammadu Buhari will not be attending the Presidential Candidates Debate, organized by the Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria and scheduled to hold on Saturday, 19th January, 2019.

“They insist that such appearance by the President will eventually unveil all they have been hiding from the citizens about the lack of capacity, comprehension and understanding of the basic issues by the President. Nigerians should insist that the President must attend the debate and voice out now that if he fails to attend, the race should be over.

“This insistence should be clear and unequivocal as we continue to wonder whose interest it will be serving to put a man through the torture of campaigns when it is clear that he is not up to it.

“We call on all well-meaning Nigerians to rise up now and begin to speak up and join in making this demand as a motley crowd of sycophants are manipulating institutions of State to foist an obviously unfit President on the nation to enable them hold onto power and continue their unbridled looting of our treasury.

“Nigerians should be deeply worried and question why all the expert looters of yesterday who were eased out by the PDP have all found comfort in the ruling party enjoying front row seats and are all rewarded with tickets and other positions of responsibility.

“Nigerians should wonder why the thieves are now more comfortable in the house of the person that professed he would stop them. God forbid that Nigerians are led by the nose to this Golgotha that the cabal is leading us. God forbid! Speak up now before it is too late.”

• Sourced from a Vanguard report

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